Recent Blog Posts

The best defense against foreclosure is to act proactively. In a tough economy, many factors contribute to a homeowner's ability to pay his or her mortgage or other debts. Regardless of the reason, if you fall behind on your payments, keep in regular contact with your lender. Under the terms of the National Mortgage Settlement, lenders must make certain options available to homeowners to stay out of foreclosure…

When filing for Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 bankruptcy in Georgia, you must complete a credit counseling and debtor education session. Both are meant to help you plan your budget and put you in the best possible financial situation, but each have specific factors that are important to understand. A list of approved Georgia and Atlanta credit counseling agencies can be found on the U.S. Department of Justice website…

One of the biggest myths about bankruptcy is that it will require you to give up your personal possessions. To the contrary, bankruptcy can often help you hold onto your most significant assets. Take your car, for instance...

Credit Counseling, or “How You Can Help the Bank While Hurting Yourself” If you’ve fallen behind in your credit card payments, you have probably heard from your bank, and the representative may have suggested you look into a credit counseling program. The kind bank rep may even have offered to supply a list of credit…

Loansharking is an illegal practice where unlicensed lenders extend credit to borrowers at impossibly high interest rates and then use threats and actual violence to collect. A slightly more respectable version of this practice is commonly called a payday loan. These are small consumer loans for short terms at exorbitant interest rates. Payday loans are…

If you are behind in your bills, you’ve probably gotten letters from you creditors as well as phone calls threatening to take action to collect on your debts. As if the harassing phone calls aren’t enough, your various creditors could also: Shut off your utilities Foreclose on your home or evict you from your apartment…

If you’ve fallen behind on credit card or loan payments, you may be curious about the direct mail advertisements you’ve been getting from companies calling themselves “debt resolution services.” They promise to help you settle your debt for significantly less than you owe. It sounds great until you find out you have to pay them…

It’s a moment that can be terrifying: you collect your mail and see a certified letter from a law firm. You open it and learn you’re being sued for the money you owe on your credit card. Now what? You’ve never been sued before. You can’t even remember going into a courthouse. Can you handle…

In February, Wells Fargo & Co., the world’s largest bank, agreed to settle a mortgage-lending lawsuit for $1.2 billion. That, however, isn’t even the largest penalty the bank has paid: in 2013, it paid more than $5 billion in settlements and nearly $2 billion in violations. Wells Fargo is just one of many banks fined…

Illinois law states the repossession of a car or truck is illegal if the consumer is not actually in default on the loan or if the creditor doesn’t have a valid security interest in the vehicle. But a valid repossession can become illegal if the repossessor used tactics that “breach the peace” when seizing the…